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Food is an important part of people's lives, cultures and traditions and can be seen as a powerful unifying force helping to create a sense of belonging within communities. This is also the case in refugee camps and more generally amongst people on the move, for that context food plays a central role in bringing people together and maintaining traditions alive. It is often, however, the case that food aid and assistance in these contexts privileges food quantity over food quality, and that the food delivered does not take into account cultural sensitivities. This could be due to the fact that ... Read morerefugee camps are seen as temporary solutions, although in reality these situations are increasingly spanning over a longer period of time. One solution could be to start projects which create urban food systems, through techniques such as vertical farming and hydroponics, within the contexts of refugee camps. In this way, migrants and refugees would have access to job opportunities as well as quality food, re-gaining agency and independence over their food choices as well as having the possibility to share their own knowledge and help to create a thriving social fabric. Food can, in fact, be a powerful linking factor between local communities and migrants, creating a new food culture bringing together different, multicultural communities and traditions. Food has both social and health elements and both are important; food can be seen as necessary for human nutrition but also as a celebration. In the context of migration, both elements should be taken into account to ensure that migrants and refugees have access to a healthy and nutritious diet, whilst at the same time being able to celebrate food traditions and to create new ones. Read less

Food is closely related to health and in some cases it turns out to be the only cure. Very often this characteristic is not considered and food is taken for granted, undermining the fundamental role it plays for our health. This has led to an increase in the costs of health related to the consumption of cheap processed food, which is not good for human health. Knowledge and education are needed in all sectors to make food become a public and social good, thus giving back its true value. However, it has emerged that in the context of the current food systems it is still too complex to take a ho... Read morelistic approach permitting this new vision of food. In addition, an important role is also played by the image attributed to food: It would be suitable to present a positive image, leading to a shared awareness and, above all, to both an individual and a collective responsibility. We should also try to see food as a nourishment of the mind and be able to make free personal choices based on awareness and knowledge, without getting overwhelmed by the confusion due to the huge offer of choices which characterizes the current world narratives. Read less

We all know that food is crucial to perform at our best in certain activities, such as sports. As, in this case, the main objective is to get to the best possible result, the customization of the diet is at the basis. But what if all of us followed a personalized diet with the goal of living a healthy life, without nutrient deficiencies and the risk of running out of food? Surely it would work at the health level, but there are still questions that need to be looked into at the applicability level. In fact, we are not only talking about health but also about wellness, as a personalized diet wo... Read moreuld have to be at the same time healthy and appetizing. Following this reasoning, how would a family with different diets manage the time and would it be sustainable in terms of waste? Who should tell us what our specific needs are? How could governments help in promoting the consumption of healthy products? A possible way would be to implement specific subsides both for consumers and producers and build up specific healthcare institutions. Healthy food should become a matter of public interest in order to make it work economically and start to have an influence on the whole food system. Read less

By pushing a bit further the margins of non-mainstreamed food systems, we noticed that what emerged quite strongly was a divisive tendency with a focus on what divides rather than what unifies us as a group. It is clear, that in order to embrace the unifying power of food, we need to spell out the granularity of the unifying message of potentially divisive concepts. From the discussion, it came out clearly that diversity, which is perceived as a positive element, is countered by confusion. How can we make a choice that is sustainable both in economic and environmental terms in such a diversifi... Read moreed context? This confusion leads to another potential opposition between personal responsibility and collectivity rights related to food habits in the future. This contrast can be linked to the dichotomy between the narratives (perceived as the truth) versus the trends (perceived as something of the moment). The example of the refugee camp in Jordan, revealed the power of traditions and the fear of losing identities. Traditions, and food traditions in particular, were perceived as nourishing a sense of belonging, as one of the only things that make you feel like a human being anchored in a societal environment. On the contrary, innovation and personalized diets were considered as a mere response to health necessities, somehow taking away the human and social part of nutrition, and therefore the pleasure and celebration of food. Within the group, we felt a feeling of opposition between the social and health elements of food. Potentially we can overcome it and have both. We need to dismantle these dichotomies to build our Manifesto as diversity does not imply confusion and fear, but rather the opposite. When exploited in a positive way, food has a unifying power that works as a vector enacting a virtuous cycle of who we are, what we do and our sense of belonging. This implies new traditions, a new concept of sustainability and affordability (in its broad definition) and social proximity. The day that we will be collectively able to bring diversity as a fundamental aspect of belonging will imply the creation of a new narrative in the shape of a clepsydra. Diversity will be the unifying factor and the narrative won’t imply a homogenization of diversity but will rather embrace it as a source of richness. This will imply the establishment of trust through an empowering culture. In this narrative, we want new traditions that allow the creation a new sense of belonging. How can we get there? By embedding the issue of personalized diets and food in its broad definition encompassing social and health dimensions. The outcome will be a narrative that embraces, learns, joins, celebrates diverse new food traditions for cohesive, healthy, sustainable habitats where we all live and thrive. Read less

Our first three Bites of Transfoodmation workshops showed us the need for a change of narrative, with a greater emphasis on espousing diversity, whilst nurturing a culture of empowerment, reconsidering our habitats and reassessing the value of food through the lens of a true cost approach. We acknowledged that shifting the status of food from a commodity to a public good can help in contemplating its true cost and value and we recognized that a new perspective in the way to produce, process and distribute food, orientated towards achieving healthy and sustainable diets for all, will lead to pr... Read moreofound systemic changes. Existing inequalities both in terms of access to knowledge and income often result in affordability and accessibility issues. During this Independent Dialogue, zoomed in on the points of difference within our social fabric. We embraced three cases of what we could define as extreme habitats (refugee camps, the realities of oncology, and high performing sports) that allowed us to dive deeper into the topics of inequality and accessibility and therefore to have an inclusive conversation, truly embracing diversity. The discussion was focused around three main questions/discussion topics: a) How could food systems and health systems be brought together to reduce the social and economic cost of illness? Should health and food be conceived as public goods? If yes, how? b) How can we get to a point in which everyone has access to a diet tailored to his/her specific needs as some athletes currently do? c) In a context of increasing migration flows due to climate change and political instability, how can we ensure healthy and sustainable food systems that allow for nutritious food and a thriving social fabric? Read less

Please see FSD Summary Report attachment.

Please see FSD Summary Report attachment.

Please see FSD Summary Report attachment.

Multiple trends and the global pandemic powerfully influence the food services industry as people seek out prepared foods that are safe, convenient, healthy, delicious and sustainable. Over the years the food services industry has helped influence and enable shifts in the global food system given its buying power, scale of infrastructure and user reach. Today, the business and institutional food services industry (tech, financial services, academia, entertainment, etc) has a sizable opportunity to positively advance the global narrative as well as consequent actions on sustainability, social e... Read morequality and access to healthy, nutritious food. Read less